Shadowfang Keep

[Fargull]

For those that have already cut their teeth on the instance dungeons with in WOW, and have not scrapped past the mid-twenties, I highly recommend trying out Shadowfang Keep.  The dungeon is in Silverpine Forest, a non-contested zone with in the Horde sphere located a short jaunt from the Undercity.

The instance has a lot better constructed feel than either Rage Fire or Wailing Chasem.  However, I would caution that Shadowfang is a much more tactical/strategic dungeon and would expect a few deaths till you resolve what needs to happen and push through.  Yes, this means that pickup groups will probably crash and burn, which is unfortunate.

My group completed the three associated quests with in four runs of the instance, dying a total of six times to the last room alone.. though another pull in the middle is about as rough.

Anyway, was just damn fine design and gaming.  Looking forward to more.

[Dren]

Yes it is a good instance.  I only got to the stables to gain my Paladin quest item, but I liked it.

Yes, I was a human paladin that far into horde territory.  As I said, it was a paladin class quest.  That was the first time that I got to an area in the game where I was not attacked by the npcs in a town, but they would agro on horde players.  It felt strange to come from the middle of town while a party was killing the people around me.

[Sky]

Ahh...THAT'S why there are so many damned paladins over there! :) And also why they seem to be generally decent folks, not the chicken-clucking, spitting morons that I generally see representing the Alliance...

I haven't done SF Keep, my warlock is just about to, though, as he's level 22. I'm hoping to get the group I did Ragefire with, plus maybe a couple others, we did RF with 3 of us, 24 warrior, 18 warlock, 15 mage. Worked great, cleared the whole place without one wipeout, and only two deaths for the warrior (who ressed on the spot with my soulstones). I liked the cool looking boss mobs, wasn't really ready for that, just expected the EQish 'named mob with generic texture' thing.

I've run into way too many horrid pickup groups to trust them...people have to be trying to play that badly, imo.

[naum]

I haven't done SF Keep, my warlock is just about to, though, as he's level 22. I'm hoping to get the group I did Ragefire with, plus maybe a couple others, we did RF with 3 of us, 24 warrior, 18 warlock, 15 mage. Worked great, cleared the whole place without one wipeout, and only two deaths for the warrior (who ressed on the spot with my soulstones). I liked the cool looking boss mobs, wasn't really ready for that, just expected the EQish 'named mob with generic texture' thing.

I did RFC @ lvl 20 in a "pickup group" but they were all of the same guild and competent and mature players (even if their guildname was a bit askew) - 2 hunters (including me), 2 warriors and a druid - everyone else was lvl 17-18 except me. We had no problem advancing through, even after the other hunter had to log. The four of us handled everything until we took a jump and landed into a pack of baddies - we handled them but the silly druid was so focused on healing the warriors he forgot to heal himself and died. After that, we still managed OK (cleared out the whole dungeon and all the quests including big boss except for one other piece) until we got overwhelmed  - but by that time, we were ready to end the session, anyway.

It was a great deal of fun and was nice not to have to repeatedly hit  /ignore asshatMcSpammer.... ....lots of good drops, but I pass on stuff I can no use and I always seem to get shafted on the dice rolls, winning some stuff, but not getitng the really good items...

Are the 2 dungeons in S. Barrens (not Wailing Caverns) instanced or are those regualr dungeons?

[personman]

(...)nice not to have to repeatedly hit  /ignore asshatMcSpammer.

Is there a cap on the ignore list?  I think I'm coming up on one hundred now, and that's on an RP server.

[sidereal]

Are the 2 dungeons in S. Barrens (not Wailing Caverns) instanced or are those regualr dungeons?

One of each.  Razorfen Downs (or maybe Krall. . . whichever. . the one to the west) is an instanced dungeon for ~30-32.

If you go East to the other one, it's just a big Elite area, but that's for like level 40.

[SurfD]

Just make certain that you have someone who can take hits (and take them well) and someone who can heal.  Someone who can pull aggro off your mage, should you have one, will also be a must.  I say this becasue Argual hits really fucking hard with those damn shadow bolts.

Oh, and when you get to the tower (where you first run into the Sons) really watch your pulls.  It is very easy to end up with 8+ critters descending on you in a pissed off swarm in there, which usually results in 90% of your party dead.

[Morfiend]

Honestly, playing horde, I skip the first two instances. Rage Fire Chasm and Wailing Caverns. SFK is a fun instance. I got the Robes of Arugal the first time through in retail, so I was real happy.

The best instance IMO is Scarelt Monistary due to the fact it is broken up in to several parts, and you dont need to devote over an hour and a half to it. You can do bits and pieces in around 45 minutes each. Also, you dont lose all the time invested in it if you wipeout really badly.

I am 31 now, and I cant wait to hit 32-35 so I can do SM a bunch of times.

[Nija]

Enjoy those lower level instances, because the ones around 40 are fucking awful. RFD (razorfen down) is prone to horrid, horrid trains. You go up this spiral, and due to some buggy aggro code if you so much as stary more than 3 ft from the far right wall, you'll aggro some mobs the next level up. They take a long time to get to you, as it's a spiral, so by the time they get there they've picked up a few dozen friends.

http://nija.r33t.org/wow/final/WoW-2004-12-11-20-55-17-93.jpg

Uldaman, while not too bad, it's an awful maze. I've not made it  very far into the temple  yet, (Zul'Farrak) but it seems "decent" so far.

Take advantage of Scarlet Monastary. Soon as you hit 30, 31, get a group of competant people together and hit it hard. Start in the Cemetary until everyone is 32-33. Library until you're about 35-36ish. Then Armory. Herod is a level 40 elite, but the trick to him is when he shouts, he's about to do a nasty AE. Just run away a bit while he froths a bit then engage again. Cathedral is the top end of SM and should be done by a full group of 38+ people. I didn't just camp the SM on my current character, but after  putting in many hours questing and exploring the other areas, I've decided that my next character is going to be a SM whore from level 30 until 40. Best loot, enough money for a mount, and crazy fast experience. No better way to do the 30s than SM.

Errrr and back to the subject of Shadowfang Keep, the best way to beat Arugal is to line of sight his 300 dmg spell. Takes him about 3 seconds to cast, so you can use the walls or the doors to block his line of sight, so he'll waste 3 seconds trying to cast at whoever. So many wipes before I figured that one out.

[Nija]

Honestly, playing horde, I skip the first two instances. Rage Fire Chasm and Wailing Caverns. SFK is a fun instance. I got the Robes of Arugal the first time through in retail, so I was real happy.

Skipping WC is a very bad idea for two reasons.

One. a 20 dps staff that can be had at level 16.

Two. The wingblade, something that most 1h sword people use until level 30. Again, available at level 16.

[Sky]

...lots of good drops, but I pass on stuff I can no use and I always seem to get shafted on the dice rolls, winning some stuff, but not getitng the really good items...

Story of my mmo life. I don't even want to roll on stuff I can't use or filler trash, all I want is some nice gear I can use, never works out. I never won a /random in EQ, only way I'd get necro drops would be the only necro along. A bit rougher when most classes can use a sword, so everyone is eligible for NBG...That was also the way RFC went, all I got was a bunch of vendor loot, and there was only three of us. They had timed the round robin so they got all the boss drops :p I was having fun, so I didn't bitch, but it was kinda crappy. I'm not a greedy person so I don't end up making a scene over it, thus the hordes (heh) of selfish opportunists generally get all the good stuff.

Nija...were you a thief in UO? Name sounds familiar...Atlantic?

[sidereal]

I was having fun, so I didn't bitch, but it was kinda crappy.

My biggest pet peeve is group members dicking each other for loot, even if I'm not the one getting dicked.  Mages rolling for broadswords irritate me enough to make a scene.

[Paelos]

I was having fun, so I didn't bitch, but it was kinda crappy.

My biggest pet peeve is group members dicking each other for loot, even if I'm not the one getting dicked.  Mages rolling for broadswords irritate me enough to make a scene.

And giving it to their guild friends. If you do this you're a tool. Take note. Mages rolling on anything they can't use get the boot in my groups, whether or not they win.

[naum]

Are the 2 dungeons in S. Barrens (not Wailing Caverns) instanced or are those regualr dungeons?

One of each.  Razorfen Downs (or maybe Krall. . . whichever. . the one to the west) is an instanced dungeon for ~30-32.

If you go East to the other one, it's just a big Elite area, but that's for like level 40.

OK, found this info at the WoW site, may wish to file for future reference...
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/worlddungeons.html

[Morfiend]

Honestly, playing horde, I skip the first two instances. Rage Fire Chasm and Wailing Caverns. SFK is a fun instance. I got the Robes of Arugal the first time through in retail, so I was real happy.

Skipping WC is a very bad idea for two reasons.

One. a 20 dps staff that can be had at level 16.

Two. The wingblade, something that most 1h sword people use until level 30. Again, available at level 16.

I already had a staff that give 11 int and 10 spr, and I was not going to waste my time with WC for that staff. I know what Im doing, and WC is not included in my plan. I wouldnt mind getting the wingblade on my rogue, but I think I have better twinked daggers already.

[murdoc]

Is there a cap on the ignore list?  I think I'm coming up on one hundred now, and that's on an RP server.

Isn't it easier just to leave general chat?

[naum]

Some decent leather armor raw goods for leatherworkers in WC, along with additional pattern. At 24, I may be too high now for WC…

[Trippy]

My biggest pet peeve is group members dicking each other for loot, even if I'm not the one getting dicked.  Mages rolling for broadswords irritate me enough to make a scene.

On the other hand, Warriors, Paladins, Hunters, Shamans, Druids, Rogues rolling on cloth items "just because they can" even with NBG turned on pisses off cloth wearers to no end. So it works both ways.

[Ironwood]

Can I ask :

Do you know what 'item type' you're getting before trying to loot ?  Does it tell you 'this guy drops swords' or summat like that ?  I mean IN GAME ?

As an aside, I would really like to try this game.  Sometimes it sucks being in the backwater.

[Trippy]

Do you know what 'item type' you're getting before trying to loot ?

Yes, when you loot something a loot window will appear showing all the lootable items on the corpse. As you move the cursor over each item, a tooltip window will come up showing you all the details about the item. In a party you also will see what other people are picking up in the chat window and you can click on the item name to see the same item description as if you were looting the item yourself.

Does it tell you 'this guy drops swords' or summat like that ?  I mean IN GAME ?

I'm not sure what you are asking here. If you are asking does the game show you what a monster will drop *before* you kill it the answer is no. It's not even the case like in EQ where if certain NPCs are wielding a weapon that weapon will always drop. You just have to learn through experience or from purusing spoiler sites what mobs drop what items.

[Ironwood]

You see, that's really part of my question :  I want to know if the newbie who's just looting a monster is *knowingly* doing someone out of the chance of a useful piece of equipment.

If I kill monster as a Mage and loot it, what tells me that this chap is going to drop warrior swords ?  Apart from spoiler sites ?

[Fargull]

Looting in WOW is nice, though if your grouped with unknowns or idiots, then either request the loot to be rolled for or leave if your not the leader.

One of the best features I have found is using shift-leftclick on the item when you talk in party chat and just ask if anyone is interested in the item.

Then roll off and let whoever uses /random 1-100 get it.

That is how we generally do it.

[Trippy]

You see, that's really part of my question :  I want to know if the newbie who's just looting a monster is *knowingly* doing someone out of the chance of a useful piece of equipment.

It depends. There are a number of different loot settings the Party leader can set and there's also a way to auto-loot corpses. So depending on the loot setting and whether or not you auto-loot, you can unknowingly or knowingly loot items that would be more useful for other people in your party. However for most items, you can just trade them to that other person -- most items are not "bind on pickup". And again, everybody in the party can see what everybody else is looting -- there is no "ninja looting" like there was in EQ.

The stuff we're talking about with regards to Mages looting swords or Warriors looting cloth items is how the "Need Before Greed" loot setting doesn't work the way you would necessarily expect it to. Mages can learn how to use swords if they pay a weapons trainer 10 silver. So if an uncommon or better sword drops, a Mage that knows how to use swords can roll on that sword (assuming the appropriate loot settings) and possibly win out over melee classes like Warriors, Paladins and Rogues. Similarly every class can roll on cloth armor items even though really only Priests, Mages, and Warlocks wear them as everyday items since those three classes can only wear cloth armor.